No one has to know

Chapter 34

It had been a couple of weeks and Bash and Catherine were playing their parts convincingly enough, but they needed to do something more soon.

Catherine made her way down the busy hallway to find Bash. When she finally reached him, he was talking to some guards.

"Bash, may I have a word with you?" she said as she came up behind them. Bash turned to see her then turned back to the guards.

"If you don't mind, gentlemen." he said to them. They nodded and walked away. A small group of ladies in the hall looked at them and whispered to each other, giggling as they did so. Catherine looked at them and rolled her eyes, then turned back to Bash.

"Honestly, I feel the need to hide more now than when we were trying to keep it a secret." she whispered.

"Don't let them get to you. If they weren't gossiping about us they'd find ten other things to gossip about. We'll be old news soon enough. Now, what was it you needed to talk about?" he said.

"It's getting almost impossible to hide our...situation...any longer. We need to make a step forward soon. Move things along." she kept her voice low enough for the onlookers not to hear.

"We can't get engaged until Francis okays it. You know that." he said.

"No. But perhaps we can do something to speed his decision along." Catherine suggested.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We make a statement." Bash gave her a questioning glare. "Mary's birthday party is in three days. They decided to celebrate it a few days early so it's not over shadowed by St. Nicholas Day. If we show up to such an event together, it will put all the questions about weather or not we are serious to rest. They will no longer think we're just flirting with each other." she said.

"I suppose that could give Francis the kick in the pants he needs to move this along, but it could also just make him more upset." said Bash.

"It might, but we are running out of time. We no longer have the luxury of waiting for him to be ok with this. We have to make a move in this chess game he started." She explained.

"If this is what you think is best, then we will make our statement." he agreed. They started to walk away and they passed the same group of ladies that were whispering about them.

"He must have a thing for his father's leftovers. Why else would he even look at her." he heard one of them say. He pretended as though he hadn't heard and turned to her to speak.

"Lady Clare, how are you? I do hope you haven't let the fact that your last three suitors decided to run off get you down."  he said. The lady looked down, embarrassed. Catherine tried to hide a proud smirk. The ladies looked at them annoyed and turned and left. Bash smiled at Catherine and they continued down the hall.

It was the night of Mary's birthday party. Catherine was getting ready in her room. She was dressed in a green and white gown with a high collar. She had just finished putting on her jewelry and she walked over to her desk where she had left Mary's present. She picked up the white lace wrapped box and ran her finger over it for a moment, proud of her choice of gift. She took a deep breath and went to meet Bash.

When she arrived at the ballroom, Bash was waiting outside for her. He was also clad in green and white, as they were Catherine's colors. If they were going to make a statement, they were going to make it in a big way. He smiled when he saw her and extended his arm to her. She hooked her arm through his and squeezed his hand just a little.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." she said. She held her head high and they stepped into the party, arms still linked. Their entrance definitely had the desired effect. Just about everyone in the room stopped and stared at them for a moment. Only a brief monent however, because they then went straight back into their gossip at full force. "So much for being old news." she whispered. He smirked at her and led her over to the gift table, where Catherine laid her present. Francis walked up to them, looking a bit irritated, but not furious.